Boreara - Ice Dragon Form (OC) (WIP)+ Old Design (Patreon)

Boreara's design when she turns into an ice dragon. It took years after I was finally satisfied with a visual style for Boreara's dragon form.

The idea of dragon humans who can transform into real dragon existed since I started drawing manga as a hobby, and I really wanted to convey a unique type of magical girls who are also dragon girls with bad-ass looking transformations. I remember that avoiding any female-looking dragon designs was one of the first aspects I wanted to ensure because I really liked the idea of cute girls who appears to be powerful and terrifying as dangerous-looking dragons in contrast.

The hair streaks, blue spheres and the heart-shaped tail are some elements that refer to Boreara's human design. In the draft below you can see one of many design drafts of her previous dragon forms. Most of those drafts have been already scrapped. I only kept the horn, but apart from that wasn't happy with the overall design because it felt too plain and more like a stereo-typical dragon. I looked into a lot of different dragon designs from monster-related franchises like YuGiOh! and Puzzles & Dragon for some inspiration. The new design looks like it could actually come from a card game anime, but I think that's the kind of aesthetic I really prefer for my own creature design.